This year at GDC 2008 Kevin Balentine, Senior Marketing Manager for Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, took some time to sit down and talk with us about Stargate Worlds. We got to see the latest unreleased trailer for the game, discuss the status of development, get our hands on the latest screen shots and concept art, and talk about the overall game mechanics.
Kevin showed us the new Stargate Worlds trailer, that is still unreleased. The trailer gave us a glimpse inside the game, of actually game play, as well as a sneak peek at some of the many worlds you will be able to visit.
The first thing we noticed is the variety of world types. For people who are fans of the show, you will really appreciate what they have done here. Every world we saw was amazing, and completely different from all of the others. We jumped from the jungles of Anima Vitrus to the cities of Agnos to the deserts of Lucia. It was incredible to finally see the images from the concept art actually translated into the game. Our hats are off to the designers, they have really outdone themselves.
The trailer also showed us, you guessed it, combat. There were several cut scenes where we got to see our hero throw down on some baddies with his machine gun. As the bullets were flying, it also revealed some new mobs we hadn’t seen before – jungle creatures that blended into the environment and one big baddie that was on fire.
Then there were the animations. Some of the animations, on what appeared to be drones, were incredibly detailed. We also got to see some of the animations the mobs will do – like growing, what appeared to be bushes, out of their backs. Again, we were very impressed. In an MMO it is the small details like these that really make the difference.
Kevin was able to confirm a couple of things for us during our discussion. First, “the official launch date is sometime in Q4”. At this point in the development process they do not want to announce a specific date. As Kevin said, “We have our date, it’s in Q4, but a lot can happen in that time frame. We will not release a game that is not finished and is not fun to play.”
Second, we got a little bit of news on the beta for Stargate Worlds, which many of you have been asking about. Kevin said, “Yes, there will be a beta. I don’t have an exact time frame for it, but look for it this summer.” That’s right kids – the Stargate Worlds beta is coming!
Game play sounds very interesting in Stargate Worlds. When asked how grouping will work, Kevin informed us that groups will stay true to the concepts in the television shows. Groups will be formed around “teams”, which consist of 4 to 5 players. The Stargate Worlds version of a guild, called a “Command”, is made up of multiple teams. Your team will have a variety of different options based on the Archetypes you choose. Some of the more interesting ones were the Archaeologist and the Scientist, not your normal style of MMO class, but again it is staying true to the television show. According to Kevin, “if you watched the show, you will see that a Scientist can shoot a gun just like anybody else.” Makes sense to us. There are also some more combat oriented classes like the Solider and the Commando. Each will have their own skill trees and bring different abilities to the table.
From what we saw Stargate Worlds is definitely a game to keep your eye on. Unfortunately we were not able to play the game yet – but it sounds like we may get the chance in the very near future. We will keep everybody up to date on what Cheyenne Mountain is doing out in the Arizona desert.
|